Two days after the Count Basie Theatre announced that the Red Bank venue would unveil a new ‘club’ format with a January 13 concert by the Smithereens, the band’s lead singer has died, according to a Tuesday post on the band’s website.

The domed ceiling of the Count Basie Theatre. Below, Linda and Jay Grunin.

“Giving Tuesday,” founded in 2012 by New York City’s 92nd St. YMCA and the United Nations Foundation, was originally a “response to commercialism and consumerism” during the holiday season. It has since turned into an international day of giving.

Next Tuesday, Nov. 28, the nonprofit Count Basie Theatre will join forces with 94.3 The Point and The Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation for a day-long, live broadcast from the Basie to raise funds for the Veterans Tickets Foundation, or Vet Tix.

Dozens of local politicians and players in the arts world turned out for the event. Below, Basie board members Steven Van Zandt and his wife, Maureen Van Zandt. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A $23 million expansion of Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre formally got underway Wednesday, beginning what’s expected to be a 20-month endeavor to turn the Vaudeville-era venue into a powerhouse for live performance and arts education.

The aim, musician and actor Steven Van Zandt told an al fresco gathering, is “to make Red Bank an example to the rest of the county of what it is possible to do” in elevating the arts.

It was the late summer of 1960, and even as storm watchers were keeping tabs on a tropical depression named Donna, the thoughts of most folks were with squeezing the last bit of enjoyment out of another hard-earned vacation season.

The American Football League was still a week or two away from kicking off its first game, and precious few people were aware of a little band named the Beatles, but taking advantage of a change in state laws governing raffles and midway-style games of chance, volunteer firefighters in launched an event that returns for its 58th annual edition this week: the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair.

An historic total eclipse of the sun — well, partial eclipse, in this part of the United States — drew summer vacationers and office workers alike out into cloying heat and humidity across the Greater Red Bank Green Monday.

On sidewalks in downtown Red Bank and the parking lot of the Monmouth County Library’s Eastern Branch in Shrewsbury, among other locales, they donned safety spectacles, craned their necks and oohed and ahhed throughout the slow-motion celestial event, the first coast-to-coast eclipse in America since 1918.

Check out our photos of the skywatchers below. (Photos by John T. Ward and Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)

Two popular Red Bank-area bands — the Wag, seen above, and Woodfish — take the open-air stage at Riverside Gardens Park Saturday evening for the “Concert for the Kids,” in support of the Red Bank Parks and Recreation youth sports programs.

There’s no charge for the 5:30 p.m. event, but a donation of $10 is suggested to help ensure that any child who wants to play sports or attend a camp is able to do so, said department director Charlie Hoffman. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

A planned expansion of Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre, seen here in an architect’s rendering, won approval from the borough zoning board last Thursday night, according to a report by the Asbury Park Press.

Red Bank Middle School seventh grader Luis Santamaria shows off his photo of baby birds waiting to be fed in their nest before he was honored by the borough council Wednesday night.

The photo was one of four selected as winners in the latest round of seasonal photo contests sponsored by the borough’s Parks and Recreation Department, and earned Luis a certificate as well as a portfolio review by professional photographers Liz and Bob McKay of McKay Imaging Photography on Monmouth Street.

Luis told redbankgreenhe takes lots of photos, and for this one, got as close as he could to the birds without disturbing them and snapped the shot with his cracked-screen cellphone. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Photos by a Red Bank Middle School student, Jonathan Balanzar, above, and an adult, Lidia Carranza, right, were the winners in the first of a new series of seasonal photo contests sponsored by the borough’s Parks and Recreation Department, director Charlie Hoffmann announced at Wednesday night’s council meeting.

The photos will hang in the department’s offices at borough hall and be posted on the new version of the town website now under development, he said. The deadline for the spring edition of the contest, which is open to all Red Bank residents, is May 30.

Meantime, here’s a colorful photo op: the annual Easter Egg Hunt, which is scheduled for noon on Saturday, March 19 at Eastside Park on Harrison Avenue. (Click to enlarge)

Cliff Keen, above, is the new director of public utilities, and Charlie Hoffmann, below, runs parks and rec. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Recent months have brought some new faces to Red Bank government.

In particular, three departments that residents have regular interaction with, and occasional strong opinions about, are under new leadership: parks and recreation; planning and zoning; and public utilities.

An architect’s rendering of the expanded Count Basie Theatre includes additions on the east and west sides of the existing structure. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s Vaudeville-era Count Basie Theatre is in for a massive, $20 milion expansion that will turn it into a “creative campus” dedicated to the performing arts in coming years, officials said Monday.

Incorporating adjoining properties acquired in recent years, theater officials plan to “move toward our longtime vision of an entire city block dedicated to the performing arts,” Tom Widener, chairman of the theater’s board of trustees, said in an announcement released Monday morning.Read More »

Under clear skies and much appreciated low heat and humidity, Fair Haven Fields was transformed into a tent city for the borough’s annual Camp Out Saturday night. There, we found fourth-grader Laughlan Forster, above, who told us he was “so excited” about his first-ever camp-out.

redbankgreen paid a visit as families bearing pillows, blankets, bug spray and teddy bears set up for night out on the playing fields.

He wasn’t the only one. Click the ‘read more’ to see s’more happy campers. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

“Iron Cowboy” James Lawrence, seen above in Sea Bright on July 4, successfully completed his 50-50-50 campaign to do a record 50 triathlon-length workouts in 50 states in 50 days Saturday, according to news reports. He wrapped up his effort, aimed at calling attention to childhood obesity, in his home state of Utah.

Lawrence’s 29th day began at Sandy Hook and ended more than 15 hours later in Sea Bright. Click here to readredbankgreen’s coverage. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

“Iron Cowboy” James Lawrence, who’s on a 50-day campaign to do 50 triathlon-length workouts in 50 states to call attention to the obesity epidemic, completed his 29th on Saturday, arriving at the Beachwalk motel in Sea Bright at 10:18 p.m, more than 15 hours after his day began.

“He’s like a machine,” said borough Councilman Charlie Rooney, who escorted Lawrence by boat as the Utah man began his day with a 2.4-mile swim in Sandy Hook Bay. Rooney and other cyclists also accompanied Lawrence on a 112.29-mile bike ride. The day ended with a 26.2-mile marathon-length run for Lawrence and members of the Sandy Hookers Tri Club.

Is he nuts? “I’m very aware of my mind and my body,” Lawrence told redbankgreen. “This is very purposeful.”

See redbankgreen’s story from earlier this week for full details and information on how to help the cause. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

Continuing his quest to complete 50 triathlon distances in 50 states in 50 days, a groggy “Iron Cowboy” James Lawrence got ready to enter Sandy Hook Bay with members of the Sandy Hookers Tri Club Saturday morning, the 29th day of his journey. “Every day, they wake me up, drag me out and throw me in a body of water,” he joked. “This is the worst case of Groundhog Day I’ve ever seen.”

The Utah man, who holds the Guinness Book records for most half- and full tri distances in a year – 22 and 30, respectively – is seeking another one to raise awareness about the perils of obesity.

His Independence Day agenda included a 1.2-mile swim, a 112.29-mile bike ride and a total 26.2 miles of running, ending with a jog into downtown Sea Bright at about 7 p.m. See redbankgreen’s story from earlier this week for full details. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

Now almost halfway through a push to complete 50 triathlon distances in 50 states in 50 days, James Lawrence discusses his aims in the above video.

James Lawrence, a record-smashing triathlete who bills himself as the Iron Cowboy, plans to bring his campaign to complete 50 Ironman-distance triathlons in 50 states in 50 days to the Greater Red Bank Green on Saturday, July 4.

Yes, you read that correctly: 50 tris in 50 days in 50 states. Insane, right?

More than 200 parishioners and friends of Saint Anthony’s Church celebrated the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua with a procession across Red Bank and an outdoor festival Saturday.

After prayers led by Father Al Tamayo on the steps of Saint James School, marchers headed west, led by a band and Boy Scout troop 67 from Red Bank. At Saint Anthony’s, they played bocce, ate and danced while a professional aerialist showed kids how to hang upside-down and fly through the air.

redbankgreen was on the scene, capturing the following images. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

Crisp blue skies, ocean breezes and beach sand made an ideal setting for the Sea Bright Festival on Saturday. The event, the first of its kind, was one of several aimed at demonstrating that the borough is “more than just a summer destination,” in the words of the organizing Sustainable Sea Bright Committee.

Check out all of redbankgreen‘s photos, below. (Photos by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge)

As usual, redbankgreen was there to capture dozens of sweet and savory moments. Are you in one of our photos? Check out the full array below. (Photos by Susan Ericson, Trish Russoniello and John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)